What did Jesus teach about the kingdom of God?

¹On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside.

²Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach.

³He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

⁴As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

⁵Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

⁶When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

⁷Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

⁸Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

⁹He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

¹¹He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

¹²For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

¹³Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

¹⁴In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:

¹⁵for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and should turn again; and I would heal them.’

¹⁶“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

¹⁷For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.

¹⁸“Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

²⁰What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;

²¹yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

²²What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

²³What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

²⁴He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

²⁵but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.

²⁶But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

²⁷The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did this darnel come from?’

²⁸“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’

²⁹“But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

³¹He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;

³²which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

³³He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measuresof meal, until it was all leavened.”

³⁴Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,

³⁵that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

³⁶Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

³⁷He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

³⁸the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

³⁹The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,

⁴²and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

⁴⁴“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

⁴⁶who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,

⁴⁸which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.

⁴⁹So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

⁵⁰and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”

⁵¹Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”

⁵²He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”

⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

⁵⁴Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works?

⁵⁵Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?”

⁵⁷They were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.”

⁵⁸He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

¹Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea, and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea.

²He taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching,

³“Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow,

⁴and as he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it.

⁵Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil.

⁶When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

⁸Others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.”

⁹He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

¹¹He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,

¹²that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’”

¹³He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables?

¹⁴The farmer sows the word.

¹⁵The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

¹⁶These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.

¹⁷They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble.

¹⁸Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word,

¹⁹and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²⁰Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”

²¹He said to them, “Is the lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it put on a stand?

²²For there is nothing hidden, except that it should be made known; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light.

²³If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.”

²⁴He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear.

²⁵For whoever has, to him will more be given, and he who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.”

²⁶He said, “The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,

²⁷and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how.

²⁸For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

²⁹But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰He said, “How will we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable will we illustrate it?

³¹It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth,

³²yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

³⁴Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.”

³⁶Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him.

³⁷A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled.

³⁸He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?”

³⁹He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?”

⁴¹They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

²⁰Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The Kingdom of God doesn’t come with observation;

²¹neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”

²²He said to the disciples, “The days will come, when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

²³They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away, nor follow after them,

²⁴for as the lightning, when it flashes out of the one part under the sky, shines to the other part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.

²⁵But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

²⁶As it was in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man.

²⁷They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

²⁸Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;

²⁹but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all.

³⁰It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

³¹In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back.

³²Remember Lot’s wife!

³³Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.

³⁴I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. The one will be taken, and the other will be left.

³⁵There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken, and the other will be left.”

³⁷They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there will the vultures also be gathered together.”

¹¹As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God would be revealed immediately.

¹²He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.

¹³He called ten servants of his, and gave them ten mina coins, and told them, ‘Conduct business until I come.’

¹⁴But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’

¹⁵“When he had come back again, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by conducting business.

¹⁶The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.’

¹⁷“He said to him, ‘Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’

¹⁸“The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, Lord, has made five minas.’

¹⁹“So he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

²⁰Another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief,

²¹for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn’t lay down, and reap that which you didn’t sow.’

²²“He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow.

²³Then why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have earned interest on it?’

²⁴He said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina away from him, and give it to him who has the ten minas.’

²⁵“They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’

²⁶‘For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.

²⁷But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’”